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Sorenstam aims to leave at top with little second-guessing

category: Golf

14.05.2008 00:26

What if?

Like a whiny, high-maintenance mate or a bad neighbor with a yapping dog, those words represent something that can nag, haunt, annoy and fester.

For major sports figures who punch their ticket early, those six little letters can rattle around in a suddenly idle brain, almost as though there's a mynah bird chirping away in your ear.

Annika Sorenstam makes the call just two days after winning her 72nd career LPGA Tour title. (AP)

It can become a second-guess mess.

Annika Sorenstam, arguably the greatest female player in history given the unsurpassed depth in the modern game, said Tuesday that she plans to leave the LPGA Tour at the end of the season, a move that was plenty surprising in some corners and less so in others. She's getting married next year, has expressed a desire to start a family and, at age 37, her ticking biological clock probably sounded like Big Ben.

In the role that has defined her, as a world-class player, Sorenstam plans to quit cold turkey, playing her final LPGA event Nov. 20-23 in West Palm Beach, Fla. She has six months to ensure that her head and heart are in total agreement.

"That's the hardest time to leave, when you are on top," LPGA Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth said. "Because you just don't know when the end will come. Her end won't come for a long time, for sure.

"Maybe I played longer than I should have, but I didn't want to look back and wonder."

Wonder what if, she means.

Whitworth played until she was 50, rolling up an amazing 88 LPGA victories, a record that likely never will be broken now that Sorenstam is taking a knee. Sorenstam, after spending the offseason in the weight room overcoming the injuries that wrecked her 2007 season, is still a solid No. 2 in the world rankings and has won her past two starts, giving her 72 on the U.S. tour.

Last Sunday, Sorenstam torched her peers at the Michelob Ultra Open in Virginia, winning by seven strokes against a field that included world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa. Perhaps the adjectives should be selected more carefully, since it has been an odd week for the LPGA, which was displaced from its Florida offices by pesky brush fires. The smoke can be seen for miles.

There was no haze, much less any hesitation, cloudy judgment or gray area, in Sorenstam's sentiments.

"As Annika was talking to me, the only description I could think of as she explained how she had come to this decision is that she is very much at peace," LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens said. "She is also very excited about the next stages of her life and her career. She's 37 years old and very vital."

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